to hear this first film will be around 160 minutes. The EE will probably end up being around 190-200 minutes. I do also think PJ will use more material as we get along this trilogy, just as with LOTR. There and Back Again could easily become a 4 hour EE then. Stairs of Cirith Ungol

Maybe including the credits (?), would justify Peter Jackson first saying that it would be ten minutes shorter than FOTR, then saying that FOTR was 3 hours, and then saying this is 2 hours and 40 minutes.

am I right ladies? "But a small dark figure that none had observed sprang out of the shadows and gave a hoarse shout: 'Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-męnu!' An axe swung and swept back. Two Orcs fell headless. The rest fled."

I really hope this works out...there's a reason they usually don't include everything they've shot. My Top 5 Wish List for "The Hobbit"5. Legolas will surf down Smaug's neck 4. Bilbo will be revealed to a Robot 3. Naked PJ cameo as Ghan-Buri-Ghan 2. Use of not only 3D, but smell-o-vision, plus the inclusion of axes coming out of the seats and poking the audience when appropriate 1. Not only keep the claim that Thorin & Co. ran amok in Mirkwood "molesting people", but depict said incident in vivid detail!!!!!

There are also the non-action parts which are reasonably comparable>>>

Prologue - Dwarven flashback (attack of Smaug or Azanulbizar) >>>Bilbo's Birthday / unexpected party Weathertop - Troll scene >>>Rivendell / Rivendell Watcher in the Water - Stone Giants Moria - Gollum & Goblin Town >>>Lorien / (this is probably where some of those 20 minutes less of movie comes in ... roughly ...)Amon Hen - Out of the Frying Pan

So maybe there is actually less talking and more action - and the talking is probably more hilarious and less dramatic. Probably no one dies. This is something that will make some people like it better than LOTR and others less ... just like comparing the books.

But my guess is that PJ will fill that in with some additional stuff. We already know, for example, that he has added a scene where Gandalf describes a bet the dwarves made about whether or not Bilbo would show up. My guess is that we will get character-building scenes like that, and more, along the road.

In fact, this is one aspect that makes me very happy about the three-film decision. There is a lot more time to linger in places, rather than hop around like a video game.